[ad_1]
AP Photo / Christophe Ena
After having fallen in two previous rounds, Geraint Thomas won Sunday in Paris and completed his first Tour de France. It is the first time that the victory is won by a Welsh
. A normally retarded runner who can not help crying, an endurance athlete trying not to hyperventilate, a lining apparently confused by his own success in a leading role: Geraint Thomas C was all these Saturday afternoon people after crossing the finish line of the 20th stage of the Tour de France in Espelette, struggling visibly more than he has ever done during the three week race.
He did not introduce himself as an act. "I thought I could beat the guys here, but to do it on the biggest stage, over three weeks, it's crazy," said Thomas, stopping sometimes to lower his head or wipe his red eyes. The last time I cried, it was when I got married, I do not know what happened, I can not even speak, man.
This is not the first time that a loyal supporter comes from the shadow of his former leader. but what distinguished Thomas's campaign was the lack of tension between himself and Chris Froome, four-time Tour winner, on Team Sky. "What the best wins" is usually pronounced through the clenched teeth. Not this time. It was a strangely quiet note in the middle of a turbulent race.
Thomas – who needed only to stand on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday to formalize the victory – won because Froome hesitated, but there was more. Sky has the deepest pockets ($ 40 million, double that of the richest organization) and the deepest bank in the business. In the highest mountains, the glowing Colombian talent of 21-year-old Egan Bernal worked for both men.
Thomas has fallen twice in previous rounds, but avoided misadventure this time, and made his own luck by sprinting on more than one occasion. Froome catapulted the course into the first stage and lost time that he never caught up.
Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas stated that he had not thought of winning the Tour de France before getting the yellow jersey in the penultimate stage. Still, there was an underlying doubt about Thomas until the last dynamic stage of the Pyrenees on Friday – a feeling that Froome still held an unplayed ace, or that Sky was eager for him to tie the record of five rounds, reset after Lance Armstrong's seven wins have been cleared.
But Froome, with three Grand Tour wins in the legs over the last 12 months and a massive microscope trained on him for much longer, was clearly tired when the key climbs. (Not too tired to keep up in third place and get on the podium in Saturday's time trial, though.) Thomas and Froome have avoided the corrosive ego clashes that sow seeds. whole teams. Welshman, 32, and two-time Olympic track team champion on the track took the lead in the overall standings when he won the 11th stage at La Rosière. He consolidated the following afternoon with a sprint at the top of Alpe d'Huez and seemed a little dazed but delighted with each subsequent day in yellow.
His competition began to clear up even before the first lap of altitude tests in the Alps. The Australian Richie Gate (BMC) has collapsed into anxious miles before the first of the 15 paved sections of the 9th stage. Rigoberto Uran (EF-Education First) descended in the same stage and slammed two days before retiring.
EPA Photo
Geraint Thomas, left, and Chris Froome helped Team Sky win another Tour de France victory
These two starts could be attributed to the cyclist's normal bumps, but Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain -Merida) Tumble on the edge of the overpopulated road of Alpe d'Huez – exacerbated by smoke and a particularly uncontrolled crowd – felt particularly useless and attenuated the intensity of the competition.
Those who stayed to challenge Sky do not leave. Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), Giro champion of Italy in 2017, showed that it was not a coup de maître. He beat Froome by one second to win the time trial on Saturday. a combination of world champion hastily sewn by a seamstress summoned to the retreat that morning, when her own disappeared. Less memorable was the approach of three heads of the Spanish Movistar team, who animated a few steps but proved ineffective against Sky's focus.
The breathtaking line taken by former Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) on the fog, The perilous descent of the Aubisque Pass on Friday was one of the most indelible moments of the race. This stage – a traditionally difficult mountain race by the Tour standards which included the Col du Tourmalet as out of work for Aubisque – has proven to be more entertaining and decisive than the 40-miler well. marked with an ascending finish that preceded it. (Note to race organizers: Please, forget the start of the grid.)
It was a round of valiant victories outside the handful of runners who were fighting over the general.
Slovak superstar Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), who managed to clear his way to a sixth green jersey for a total sprint and victory points, crashed heavily in the Pyrenees and carried an unusual look of anguish on his face as he sailed the next two days. If he had had another race, he would have booked a trip to the house.
Lawson Craddock (EF-Education First), one of five American pilots to start the Tour, fractured his shoulder blade and burst into tears while he told reporters that he had worked too hard to go home the first day. Motivated by a fundraiser for his native velodrome, Craddock became the first wire-to-wire red lantern or last rider. Healing in motion on two mountain ranges is a feat that most of us will never understand.
During the same stage in the Alps where Thomas took the lead, Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) from Great Britain stayed in the saddle for a long time. knew that he would not make time to cut. He had nothing to gain or prove, but rather than discreetly descending and disappearing into the broom wagon, he continued to climb with the tenacity that earned him 30 stage wins and completed the stage
AP Photo / Peter Dejong
Peter Sagan rode despite a hard fall in the Pyrenees, scoring a sixth career green jersey for the overall sprint and stage victory points.
Cavendish was part of a fleet of sprinters who could not survive the mountain. announcer of things to come from Tour organizers remains to be seen. Disrupting pre-established schematics of flatter stages is a laudable concept, but speed specialists have long been some of the most charismatic characters in the sport. Versatile talents like Sagan come only once in a generation, if that.
The predictability that is of great concern to many spectators this year is that of Sky, who has won six of the last seven Tours with three different riders. The hostility of the fans towards Sky has created a useless polemic around fouls – attributed variously to the team, race organizers, the frustration of the host country and all that precedes – which is impossible to pin down. Runners and staff absorbed stoically the abuse, aside from the physical blow launched by Gianni Moscon who had him expelled from the race and the verbal salvo launched against French culture by general manager Dave Brailsford who later excused
sports know that domination causes adulation or resentment and rarely something in between. The public figure of Froome was further complicated by the investigation to find out if he had exceeded the allowable dose of an asthma drug last year – a process that does not help. Was not resolved until the week before the Tour, after the organizers of the race threatened the start. The fact that Froome was booed loudly down the starting ramp of the time trial, and Thomas was not, may have as much to do with the boredom of the spectators as it was. with the doping controversies that have dragged Sky since its inception
. Froome, finishing a third graceful, becomes a more sympathetic figure? Will Thomas – until now a friendly counterpoint to the omnipotence of his team – help in some hearts and minds alienated? It's a task that could be much more difficult than winning a bike race, even the most difficult in the world.
[ad_2]
Source link
